


It Takes A Village

by Honorificabilitudinitatibus



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV), Naruto
Genre: (I'm deeply sorry but that tag was way too funny not to include), ANBU!Jon, Angst, BAMF Arya Stark, Bran gets some cool wood-release prosthetics, Canon-Typical Violence, Catelyn is a Whirlpool Ninja, Fluff and Angst, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Multi, Naruto is related to the Stark kids, Of course the Starks can use ice release jutsu, Sansa Stark-centric, Sansa is a BAMF medical ninja, Snapshots, The Stark family have wolf summons, mentions of whirlpool culture, obviously, sakura and tsunade are a bad influence on Sansa, via his mom, warging-no-jutsu
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 18:00:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21742579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Honorificabilitudinitatibus/pseuds/Honorificabilitudinitatibus
Summary: Sansa Stark knew that neither of her parents had been born in Konoha- Ned Stark hailed from the far north of Snow Country, while Catelyn had entered the village as a refugee from Whirlpool after losing everything, her bright hair easily marking her as an Uzumaki. The Stark children, though, have never known any home but the Village of Hidden Leaf.Various snapshots depicting the lives of the Stark children in Konoha as they try to make their way in a bittersweet world.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters, Haruno Sakura/Hatake Kakashi, Jon Snow/Sansa Stark, Oberyn Martell & Sansa Stark
Comments: 12
Kudos: 71





	1. Anniversary

**Author's Note:**

> This one requires a fair bit of suspension of disbelief with regard to names- I just sort of dropped the Westerosi characters into the Naruto-verse. No, I will not be entertaining questions about where this idea came from. I have no idea, but I still kind of adore it. I cannot imagine the kind of havoc Arya would wreak on a team with Anko as her sensei, and you will pry my favorite found-family Oberyn-Sansa dynamic from my cold, dead hands. 
> 
> -

Sansa has been accused on multiple occasions of living at the hospital. Mostly, by Ned Dayne and Jeyne, but Arya’s been annoyed lately that Sansa doesn’t have time to spar with her, and is currently not being shy at _all_ about expressing that.

“I’ve been _busy-_ “

“You’re _always_ busy-“

“Why are you so intent on sparring with me? Did Robb disappear? Did you get tired of humiliating Greyjoy? Is that Hyuuga asshole not around?”

“Well for one, Robb’s been on a mission for two _whole_ weeks, so that kind of proves my point _there._ ” Arya muttered, standing back and crossing her arms. Her sister looked unassuming, but Sansa didn’t let her guard down. Most people who assumed Arya wasn’t a threat didn’t live long enough to learn better. “I’m not tired of humiliating Greyjoy, but he’s trying to make ANBU and training with his sister, and I haven’t tracked down Hyuuga yet. You’re less pretentious anyways.”

“What a compliment.” Sansa snorted, double checking the chart she’d been examining. “Slightly less pretentious than a Hyuuga- you can put that on my gravestone.”

“Can you not?” Arya asked her, sounding seriously annoyed. Sansa looked up at her sister’s expression and sighed, letting her shoulders drop.

“I’m sorry.” She told Arya, letting herself fall into her chair. “I’ve been running on fumes for days. Lady Tsunade has had me covering all the shifts Sakura’s been hitting- she and Team 7 are out in Water Country for a while, and Sakura has a workload that you would not _believe_. I’m not trying to be difficult- ninja’s honor.”

“When’s the last time you got any sleep?” Arya asks her, sounding skeptical. “Rick wanted you to train with him too- he’s got the chunin exams coming up in a few months, and Naruto-nii hasn't been in the village long enough recently to teach him that new wind jutsu he wanted to learn.”

“ _Shit_.” Sansa swore, letting her head fall into her hand. “I can’t _believe_ that slipped my mind.”

“Still haven’t answered the question.”

“It’s only been like three days.” Sansa waves her off. “I get off this evening, and have tomorrow off to catch up on sleep, but I can come spar with you and Rick for a few hours.”

“Sure.” Arya snorted. “You can come throw boulders and spit poisoned senbon at us on next to no sleep. That sounds like an idea straight out of the Greyjoy braintrust, San. Truly brilliant.”

Sansa lets her head fall on her desk, groaning. Truth be told, she’s exhausted- running on fumes and soldier pills- but Sakura does this kind of thing all the time, and no one bats an eyelash. Sansa’s been training for _ages_ to try to be as good as Sakura and Shizune and Lady Tsunade, and she really doesn’t want to let anyone down. It isn’t her only reason for overworking though, and Arya knows that too.

“I’m sorry.” She mutters, head still down. “Look, I’ll sleep and then I’ll come train, okay? I’m sure Rick’s well prepared- their sensei’s got to be working her team to the _bone_.”

“She has.” Arya snorts, kindly not mentioning the fact that she knows that part of the reason Sansa’s working herself half to death is to distract herself from the anniversary of their parents’ death. “Osha’s had them running drills like that spandex green dream team- I think she’s threatening them with _actual_ training with Gai-sensei or Lee if they don’t push it hard enough.”

“Ouch.” Sansa winces. She’s done the training with weights that team Gai uses before, and knows _exactly_ how much strain it puts on your body. Sansa had spent a long week taking advantage of their family’s ice-release jutsu to ease the ache in her muscles after the first time she tried it.

“Yeah.” Arya agrees. “It’s a hell of an incentive- Sensei made us do it a couple times last year when we pissed her off- it wasn’t pretty.”

“Speaking of which, I wanted to chat with Anko about a particular seal I’ve been struggling with.” Sansa mumbles, her red hair covering her desk as her head rested on it. “Can you ask her for me?”

Sansa seriously considers just staying like this- she’s right at the threshold of passing out from exhaustion which, of course, was the whole point of this insane work marathon. With how tired she is, the hard wood of her desk feels like a perfectly comfortable place to sleep.

“I’ll let sensei know.” Arya promised. “Hey, by the way, Jon was asking about you again.”

Sansa’s head shoots up from the table, and she locks her very red eyes with Arya’s as her sister smirks.

“What did you tell him?” she growled.

“I didn’t say _anything._ ” Arya smirks. “Even though I had to hear you drunkenly rant about how pretty his hair is and how nice his butt is for like an _hour_ the last time I had to pick you up from medic-night.”

Sansa had first been invited to join Sakura, Shizune, and Tsunade’s monthly drinking party in the Hokage tower a couple years ago, and she’d quickly realized why they did it. Drinking yourself cross-eyed and near incoherent with three other women who could kill someone with a tap of their pinky finger was oddly cathartic.

It did, however, mean that the medics knew every single piece of dirt on each other, and Sansa had learned things about Lady Tsunade’s genin teammates that would haunt her for life. She’d learned more about Genma from a tipsy Shizune than she ever wanted to know, and more often than not, their conversations had turned towards the disaster that had been Sakura and Sasuke’s attempt at a relationship. After a volatile seven months, Sakura had finally left, and their celebratory night afterwards still stands out as the single worst hangover Sansa’s ever had. During their team’s training the next day, Ned Dayne solidified his position as Sansa’s favorite with his sweet concern, and Oberyn had laughed hard enough at her angry sputtering that tears ran down his face. Sansa had practically put Aegon through a tree when her teammate started in with his teasing.

Sansa had sworn off drinking after that, but the hokage was not easily deterred, and she had found herself back in the hokage tower the next month, drinking sake next to Shizune-sensei while Tsunade coaxed Sakura into talking about her love life again. 

Sansa wasn’t entirely sure if it was more a genuine concern for Sakura’s well-being that drew Tsunade to pry, or if it was the closest thing the hokage had to a hobby besides gambling. She suspected a good bit of both. When Sakura had started to spend more and more time with the copy-ninja, Tsunade had encouraged her with an unholy glee.

Sakura had then spent months trying to get up the courage to ask Kakashi out on a date, and had been _furious_ when Kakashi outright kissed her on a mission before she’d even had the chance to say something. Seeing how flustered and sweet they’d been coming back from the mission had made something in Sansa’s heart ache. Sakura had Kakashi, who was devoted and thoughtful, if incredibly weird, and Shizune had Genma. Sansa didn’t know if she would ever find someone like they had, after the disastrous string of relationships that had plagued her younger years.

Eventually, those feelings had manifested during medic-night, and Sansa had spilled all of her worries in a drunken stupor to three of the most accomplished kunoichi in Konoha. She had also admitted to her rather massive crush on Jon Snow- her brother’s genin teammate- much to the Godaime’s amusement.

When Arya had come to help Sansa get home that night, apparently drunk-Sansa had decided that her sister _needed_ to know everything she liked about Jon Snow, and drunk-Sansa _apparently_ didn’t know when to shut up. Honestly, she was just glad it hadn't been Robb or Naruto to hear her wax poetic about the Targaryen.

“I thought we agreed not to speak of that.” Sansa hisses, feeling a twinge in the back of her neck. That wasn’t good- that was chakra exhaustion waiting to happen. She hadn’t been trying for _that_.

“I never promised anything.” Arya smirked. 

“You know, Gendry was in here the other day with the most _familiar_ looking stab wound in both of his arms-“

“Obviously I’m not going to say anything to Jon!” Arya cut her off, her face decidedly red. Her expression softened a bit. “I just think it’s kind of dumb the way you get all nervous around him like he didn’t see you get covered in blood and slime during your chunin exams. Besides, you two get along really well anytime Robb and Marge decide we all need to have dinner together. Shizune agrees with me, right Shizune-sama?”

Sansa gives an undisguised ‘eep!’ as one of her teachers comes in with an amused look on her face.

“I think the two of you _would_ be cute.” Shizune agrees, her lips quirking in Arya’s direction. “Are you planning to talk to him? I think he was sent out on an ANBU mission a couple days ago.”

“I wasn’t planning to do anything!” Sansa flushes bright red. Shizune seems to realize how sleep deprived she is, giving her an amused look, and mercifully changes the subject.

“Have you made any progress on that antidote for the new sound poison yet?” she asks her, eyes flicking towards Sansa’s sister with a small grin. “Arya, I think Tenten was looking for you- I passed her earlier and she mentioned something about working with a tanto?”

Arya’s eyes widened comically.

“Sorry San- I’ve gotta run.” She darts forward, pressing a smacking kiss on Sansa’s cheek before swinging out the window and sprinting down the hospital walls.

“Is Tenten actually looking for her?” Sansa dryly asks, hanging her head slightly now that Arya isn’t here to scold her for overworking herself.

“I’m sure she won’t be opposed to training with your sister.” Shizune chuckled. “Much as I would love to hear how you’re going to ask Jon out, I did want to see where we were with that particular antidote project at the moment.”

“I’m not going to.” Sansa insists, her face red. She’s too tired for this nonsense. “We’re too busy for me to date anyone. I’ve isolated a couple of the components, but we had a chunin team come in here earlier with some nasty compound fractures that took me away from it for a little while. Can I ask sensei about it?”

“Oberyn’s mostly been away working with the Sand on that exchange program, hasn’t he?” Shizune asked, confirming with Sansa’s nod.

“Sensei should be back tomorrow though- they keep sending him with Naruto because they both get along so well with the Kazekage.” She laughed, wearily. “Naruto-nii is all exuberance, and sensei’s probably just as crazy as the kazekage.” Sansa loved her sensei to pieces, even if he was absolutely insane at times. He kind of reminded her of Kakashi Hatake at times- Oberyn Martell was every inch the genius that the copy ninja was, but there was something lighter about him. They had both lost so much at such a young age, both buried themselves in work and missions and ANBU, but where Kakashi had been lost to his grief for years, Oberyn had thrown himself into life with a renewed zeal. Sansa knew how lucky she was to have been able to train with Konoha’s red viper- he was a study in contradictions, at once joyous and encouraging, bloodthirsty and furious, focused and unpredictable. 

Sansa would hate to have to face him in a real battle, but she had learned more from him than she ever could have dreamed. She had yet to meet another ninja with the same high levels of compassion, and yet, brutal resolve. 

“You’re not wrong about that.” Shizune muttered, smirking slightly. “If he gets back before you crack it, then by all means see what he has to say, but I have faith in you. See what you can do.”

Sansa nods, bolstered by the praise, and gives Shizune a grateful smile as she picks herself up to head back to the lab. For now, she would research, and run tests, and not think about anything but the different components needed for this antidote. She wouldn’t think about Jon, she wouldn’t think about Arya’s teasing, and she wouldn’t think about the two names carved into the memorial stone that shouldn’t have been there.

She wouldn’t.


	2. ANBU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ANBU missions are hard enough without being put on a team that included both an explosive katon user, and the boy you’ve had a crush on since you were ten. When Sansa finds out that her adoptive older brother is her captain for this mission, she’s pretty sure the Godaime is messing with her. Sansa’s relatively sure she’ll survive this mission, but she isn’t quite so sure about her pride.

Like Sakura-chan and Shizune-nee, Sansa would sometimes get tapped to act as the medic on ANBU missions- some of which went smoother than others.

This particular mission- involving an assassination and infiltration in Iwa- had pretty much gone to hell from the time the rest of her teammates had emerged from the base, with a squad of Iwa’s ANBU hot on their trail. Sansa had hurled herself forward, taking off in time with the other members of her squad, and trying to take inventory of their injuries while they darted through the trees.

ANBU assignments were intended to be classified, their members kept secret, but an exception was made for the medic-nin accompanying the squads- it would have been damn difficult to treat any of them without knowing their medical history.

Sansa wasn’t thrilled that they’d sent her out with two Targaryens this time. Generally, missions with the katon-jutsu users tended to be more than a little explosive- especially with Daenerys as a part of the squad. At least Jon tended to balance out his aunt’s explosive techniques with calculated strategy, even if Sansa had had to ignore the way the hokage had smirked when she’d assigned Sansa to the same team as the Targaryen.

She was never letting any of the senior medics get her drunk ever again- spilling the secret of her crush to Sakura-chan and both of their mentors had been embarrassing enough without Lady Tsunade’s apparent meddling. She’d been assigning Sansa and Jon to the same ANBU missions, and Sansa was starting to wonder if the Godaime had money on the outcome. This would be this third one, and Sansa was just glad that she had managed to keep her cool so far- and that she wasn’t completely alone with the two Targaryens, even if their captain could be a bit of a wild card.

“Mockingbird!” she heard the silver-haired woman call, her dragon mask fierce as she faced Sansa. “We need a distraction! Can you give us one?”

Sansa turned her head over to their other teammate- his blank white mask barely concealing the annoyance in his body lines. Ghost nodded, reluctantly, and Sansa began taking a few deep breaths, expanding her lung capacity until she could whirl around to face the ANBU pursuing them. Making a few hand seals, she easily belched a cloud of poison at them, quickly switching direction to dart after Jon and Dany in the trees.

Before she could ask where their captain had gone, a massive figure in a fox mask burst out of the trees to land on a branch next to Sansa, who almost sighed in relief at the sight of the blond, even if he was clearly on edge, every muscle tensed to spring.

“We’ve got two more squads in pursuit!” Naruto yelled, pushing ahead of them with a burst of that blazing chakra that always felt like home to Sansa. Like her mother and brothers and the rest of the Uzushio Quarter in the village- Uzumaki chakra. “We aren’t going to outrun them! Ghost, Dragon- fall back to engage first, while Mockingbird and I back you up.” He turned his mask on Sansa. “This is going to be a nasty fight- I need you to stay out of it as much as possible, because those two are going to need healing afterwards.”

Sansa nodded, familiar with the medic’s role on the team, but her frustration must have been evident in her posture, because Naruto quickly leaned forward to place a large hand reassuringly on her shoulder.

“You’re too valuable to get yourself hurt right now, Sansa-chan.” He murmured, and she knew he was grinning at her from behind the mask. Sansa resisted the urge to pout, simply nodding and casting a basic genjutsu that would allow her to stay out of sight while the rest of the team fought.

While she was glad the hokage hadn’t sent her out with Robb- whose overprotective act tended to get very old _very_ quickly- Naruto wasn’t much better. He’d been raised as another brother to Sansa as soon as Catelyn had realized that he was Aunt Kushina’s child and raised hell with the Sandaime to be allowed to take him in. Sansa had never gotten to meet Aunt Kushina, but she had been Catelyn Uzumaki’s cousin, and like a younger sister to Sansa’s mom.

Naruto was older than Sansa by two years, but younger than Robb- his birth had apparently coincided with Catelyn traveling outside of the village with Ned Stark to Frost Country for a few years to visit his family, and the Sandaime hadn’t bothered to tell Catelyn about him when she did return. They hadn’t found out that he was family until Naruto was six, and Sansa had heard some of the jounin whisper about the fury that Catelyn Uzumaki had unleashed on the Sandaime when she found out that Kushina’s son had not only survived, but had been living on his own for six years.

Her mother had brought Naruto home the next day, and Sansa remembered the way the boy had sniffled and cried, mussing his hair as he wiped his face and making the goggles he wore tilt as Catelyn had introduced him to Robb, Sansa, Arya, and baby Bran. Her mom had made ramen for dinner, winking at the blond boy when he shyly asked if he could have seconds.

“It was your mother’s favorite, too.” Catelyn had warmly told him, placing a hand on his head as his eyes had widened. “I made plenty of extra helpings.”

Ever since that day, Sansa had had another older brother, and something about Naruto had calmed down with the stability of a family. He’d fit in with the Stark-Uzumaki family like he’d always belonged, eager to learn more about his mom from Catelyn, and eager to be helpful by training with Sansa and Arya, and helping Ned train the wolfpack. Naruto had been really good at evasive tactics- a result of evading ANBU after some of the pranks he would pull (Sansa knew her mom would deny it if she were still alive, but she’d definitely made Naruto’s favorite ramen dish the day after he spray painted the Sandaime’s face on the hokage monument- Hiruzen Sarutobi had not made himself an ally in Catelyn Uzumaki by keeping her cousin’s child from her), and one of their favorite games when they were kids had been hide and seek with her dad’s wolf-summons- Naruto had always been the last one to be found by the pack.

Sansa wished sometimes that they could go back to those days- mud-wrestling with Grey wind and Shaggy and Summer while Lady carried Rickon around, protectively, by the scruff of his neck before he was old enough to really train with them- she remembered Arya sitting on Nymeria’s back and laughing as Nymeria had pinned Naruto to the ground, mercilessly licking his face. But even if they couldn’t go back to those lighter times, Naruto was still, and had always been, family.

Sansa didn’t know how much of it was Robb and her dad’s influence, and how much was just Naruto being, well, _Naruto_ , but he had always been protective of her and her younger siblings, and she had a nasty feeling that Robb had made him promise to watch out for her on ANBU missions, especially now that Robb was considering leaving ANBU and staring down a possible genin team of his own.

Her cousin was eyeing her suspisciously as he watched her heal their team members after the fight, and Sansa knew she was caught when Naruto pulled her aside after she finished healing Dany. Her forehead was beaded with sweat, and while at least Daenerys didn’t seem inclined to comment on it, her cousin knew her better, and had probably caught the way her chakra was flickering.

“You’re running out of chakra pretty quick Sansa-chan.” He said, almost accusingly, meeting her eyes.

“We’ve been busy at the hospital lately.” Sansa lamely argued. “Besides, I’m not drained yet. Jon and Dany are both healed, and we’ll be able to make it back to the village just fine.”

“Does baa-chan know that you’ve been working yourself sick?” he asked, blue eyes blazing.

“She’s been signing off on my hospital shifts, yes-“

“Damn it, Sansa!” he hissed, a hint of red bleeding into his eyes. “I promised Robb that I would keep you _safe_ -“

“And I _am_ safe.” Sansa pointed out, too familiar with Naruto’s temper to be afraid of the fox’s chakra. “I have enough chakra to heal us all again before we reach Konoha- I’ll be fine.” She poked him in the chest, half-playfully. “If you need to worry about someone, worry about Jon. He took the bulk of that hit, and even with the healing session I gave him, he’s going to be a little slower for the rest of the trip- and besides,” she smiled up at him, “I’m not worried- you’re with me, you big dummy.”

Naruto grumbled good-naturedly, but threw a reassuring arm around her shoulder.

“Fine.” He muttered, leading them over to the fire, “But you’re off watch for tonight- Jon told me your chakra was lower than it should be, and you need to sleep.”

“Traitor.” Sansa muttered.

“Yeah but you won’t say that to _him_ -“ he cousin leered, leaning down to whisper in her ear, “Because you _liiike_ him-“

“I’m going to string you and Arya up outside the Hokage Tower if you don’t stop gossiping about me-“

“Aw but Sansa-chan it’s so much _fun_ -“

“Not another word, Naruto!”

* * *

Not even six hours later, Sansa was secretly relieved that Naruto had insisted she get at least three hours of sleep, because she had needed that energy when they were ambushed by another squad of Iwa nin. She’d been separated from Naruto and Dany, and she and Jon were currently sprinting away from another squad.

Eventually, they’d been forced to turn and fight, and although they had taken out the remaining nin through a combination of Jon’s skill with a sword and Sansa’s combat medical jutsu, although Jon had been run through by one of the ANBU while deflecting a blow meant for her, and Sansa was pretty sure she had been poisoned when one of them caught her with a shower of senbon that she couldn’t avoid without letting Jon get hit. And so here she was, deep in the middle of Earth Country, no trace of Naruto or Daenerys, and carrying Jon over her back as her vision blurred while she tried to find a place to stop and rest where they wouldn’t be completely out in the open and vulnerable.

Eventually, she managed to get them both into a small cave, which, while cramped, was fortunately dry. Jon’s stab wound had been clean- through and through- and luckily not poisoned or near anything too vital. She managed to close it easily enough, his gray eyes opening slowly as she finished healing the wound.

“Sansa?” he asked, vaguely groggy. “Are you alright?”

“You should be asking yourself that question.” Sansa grimaced, wiping the sweat off of her forehead. She’d broken medic-nin rule number one by healing him before she was completely in the clear- and would be in a hell of a lot of trouble for it later, she thought, as her vision blurred again, but there really was a good reason for it- she didn’t want to attempt an extraction without someone there to keep watch. She was one of three poisons experts in Konoha, along with Oberyn-Sensei and Shizune-nee, and she knew exactly how much the field procedure would take out of her. There was a reason she’d studied so hard to become proficient in making antidotes, after all. “How are you feeling?”

“I-“ Jon sat up, moving easily, and giving her a grateful smile that made her stomach flutter a little, “Better than before, actually. Thank you.”

“Good.” Sansa breathed, feeling her chest hitch a bit, and grimacing as she felt the poison begin to really hit. She’d been slowing down the effects, but needed to extract it as soon as possible. “I need you to keep watch for me- I need to extract this toxin from my system-“

“You’ve been _poisoned_?” Jon cried, practically leaping up to crouch next to her. “ _Christ_ , Sansa- are you- do you have enough chakra for that?”

“Uzumaki, remember?” Sansa managed to grin at him, grimacing as a burst of pain shot through her. “ _Shit_ -“ she hissed, “Can you help me lean against that wall over there and make sure no one sneaks up on us while I do this?”

Jon nodded easily, scooping her up to lean her gently against the cave wall.

“Don’t overdo it.” Sansa growled, trying to channel Sakura's effortless confidence in disciplining erstwhile patients (she was pretty sure it was a result of experience with Kakashi-san and his notorious disregard for medical advice). “I just pulled a sword out of your gut, Targaryen.”

“I’ll be fine.” Jon told her, his hands still on her shoulders. There was something worried in his eyes, and Sansa was trying not to read too far into it- she couldn’t handle that kind of false hope right now. “Don’t worry about me- you need to heal yourself.”

Sansa nodded, leaning back and shutting her eyes. Jesus Christ- this was going to hurt. She bit down on a clean rag from her pack, taking a fistful of water from the bowl she had set up and infusing it with her healing chakra, making the first incision and shoving the water in before she could flinch. A strangled cry escaped her lips, muffled only by the rag between her teeth. For all her boasting to Jon about her Uzumaki chakra reserves, she was running too low to risk using chakra to numb the pain.

By the time she finished, she was panting, tears running down her cheeks as she closed the last incision, slumping back against the wall. Her entire body ached, and she wanted nothing more than to sleep, but she couldn’t do that until they were at least safely across the border.

“Sansa?” Jon’s voice asked, gently. “How are you feeling?”

“I’ll be fine.” Sansa told him, shakily. “Can you grab one of those vials in my pack? I need a sample of that poison- I think it’s a new one that I don’t have an antidote for yet.” She shivered, the cool night air a bit much for her exhausted state. Naruto was going to kill her for being so reckless, if the Godaime didn’t beat him to it. Hell, _Shizune_ \- mild mannered, _Shizune-sensei_ \- was going to be _furious_ with her for neglecting her own health like this.

“We need to get some rest.” Jon told her, helping shift her so that she was lying on her back, one of his spare shirts pillowed under her head.

“Thanks.” She managed to murmur, trying not to flush red at his sudden proximity when he pulled her in next to him in his sleeping roll. “Jon, I’m not going to freeze-“

“I can’t light a fire without alerting someone to our location.” He told her, softly, his mouth next to her ear. Sansa was sure her heartbeat was hammering loud enough for him to hear it, at that point, and she was equally mortified and thrilled at the situation. “And you need to recover. We’ll catch up to Naruto-taichou and Dany after you can stand on your own.”

“I can send a wolf-“

“Save your chakra.” Jon told her, wrapping an arm around her waist. “I sent a crow to find Naruto-taichou while you were healing yourself. They’ll be able to track it back here.”

Sansa nodded, eyes slipping shut as she felt Jon’s warmth surround her. She felt something brush the hair off her face, and something light brush her forehead, but was too exhausted to really register anything before she felt herself drift into a deep sleep.

* * *

When she woke up, it was to soft voices, and it felt like she was trying to listen to someone from underwater.

“-how is she now?”

“She said she was poisoned, but managed to remove the toxin.” Sansa heard Jon murmur, not loosening his hold on her. “I think she’s more tired than she’s letting on though- her body temperature isn’t regulating itself the way it should be.”

“Oh so _that’s_ why you two are wrapped around each other?” Sansa hears Dany’s teasing voice, before Naruto reaches down to pat her cheek, forcing Sansa to open her eyes.

“You told me you were okay.” He said, accusingly, his face covered in streaks of dirt.

“I was.” Sansa groaned, trying to get up. Jon dropped his arm, and she tried not to feel disappointed at the loss of warmth. “But we were pursued, and I had to heal a stab wound on Jon, and ended up poisoned with something I didn’t have an antidote for. I didn’t have much of a choice but to extract it.”

Naruto growled.

“Sansa-“

“Dany, are you injured?” she asked, turning to the fourth member of their squad, who was watching the entire scene with amusement. Sansa tried not to blush at the position she and Jon had been caught in.

“I’m perfectly fine.” She waved Sansa off. “You look like you’ve seen better days, though.”

Jon nodded in agreement, and Sansa could swear there were traces of red in Naruto’s eyes as he shook his head at her, clearly exasperated with her. He insisted on carrying her back, and as embarrassed as Sansa was to be tucked onto his back like she was a genin again, she couldn’t deny that she was too exhausted to run back on her own.

“You haven’t been sleeping.” He accused her, leaping through the trees like she weighed nothing. It didn’t surprise her- Naruto had always been inhumanly strong and stocky- she remembered the way he’d used to train with Bran and Arya, each hanging from an arm while he did bicep curls, her younger siblings giggling the whole time as Naruto grinned.

“I can’t.” Sansa quietly admitted, her arms wrapped around his neck as she buried her face in his back. “Not unless I’m exhausted. I just- I see their faces- see their deaths- every time I dream. I just-“ she bit her lip, breaking off as tears threatened. She felt Naruto’s hands squeeze her legs reassuringly, and she took a ragged breath.

“I’m sorry Sansa-chan.” He whispered. “I know how much you miss them.”

“I know you miss them too.” Sansa pointed out, voice shaky. “Mom wanted so badly to see you become hokage- she used to talk about it all the time when you were out of the village training with Jiraya-sama.”

“She’s just gonna have to watch from the afterlife.” Naruto told her, and Sansa heard the grin in his voice. “She and my mom have some catching up to do.”

“Yeah.” Sansa murmured. “I’m sorry- I didn’t mean to endanger the mission.”

“Why didn’t you ask Sakura-chan to sub in?”

“Like she’s slept at all either.” Sansa snorted. “We’ve been overrun trying to rebuild at the hospital since the war, and she and Kakashi have just been so happy-“

Naruto made a disgusted sound and Sansa giggled.

“They are! It’s really cute-“

“Ugh Sansa-chan-“ he whined, sounding less like an ANBU captain and more like a petulant child, “I don’t wanna think about Sakura-chan ending up with that awful old perv-“

“That ‘awful old perv’ is your sensei, Naruto-nii!”

“Fine, fine- he’s _marginally_ better for Sakura-chan than the rest of those assholes in the village.” He groaned. Sansa noticed he didn’t bring up Sasuke again, which was an improvement over the last time they’d discussed Sakura’s new beau. “At least you have marginally better taste-“

“Naruto!” Sansa hissed, tugging at his ear as he yelped.

“Look, Jon doesn’t read porn in public, at least, even if he is a fucking Targaryen.”

Sansa’s face was flaming red, and she buried her face in Naruto’s collar, swearing under her breath.

“You two were snuggled up pretty close when Dany and I got there-“ Sansa could hear the smirk in his voice, “-looked like a bit more than just body-heat to me.”

“Please don’t say anything to anyone about it.” She pleaded, tightening her arms around her cousin’s neck. “I don’t- Robb won’t-“

“Robb isn’t gonna give you a hard time!” Naruto scoffed, grinning back at her. “Well- maybe a little. Sure he might rough Targaryen up a bit, but he just wants you to be happy. Like I do- like we all do.”

“I’m trying to be.” Sansa admitted. “It just- it feels like there’s so much to do, and so much to fix, and I can’t even begin to do it all-“

“You don’t have to.” Naruto insisted, squeezing her legs comfortingly. “You always try to take care of everyone else on your own Sansa-chan- remember how you always insisted on helping me study for academy tests when we were little, even though you had your own classwork to do?”

“You’re my family.” Sansa murmured, burying her face in the back of his neck again. He was so warm- Sansa suspected it was partially Kurama’s chakra- but it was making her sleepy now as she lagged against his broad back. “Of course I want to help you.”

“And you’re _my_ family, Sansa-chan.” Naruto insisted. “Try to let other people take care of _you_ for once.” He chuckled. “At least let’s try to get dinner a few nights a week so Robb and Arya-chan and I can make sure you’re not drowning yourself in hospital work and forgetting to eat.”

“We should do family dinners.” Sansa mumbled, half-asleep already from the combination of motion and warmth. “I miss those, even if mom and dad won’t be there.”

“Let’s start with Ichiraku when we get back.” Naruto chuckled, his chest vibrating under Sansa. “Why don’t you take a nap, Sansa-chan? We’re almost to Fire Country, and we’re making good time. I’ll wake you up if we have to stop.”

“Okay.” She mumbled, snuggling in closer. Naruto’s distinctive scent reminded her of her childhood- of days training with him and her siblings, when she’d fall asleep on the training grounds while Naruto and Robb sparred with each other, Arya and Bran dog-piled on top of her, and wake up later to one of her older brothers carrying her home for dinner. “Naruto-nii?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, this universe is just so fun to play with, and tends to be my go-to when I’m stuck on one of my other stories (APWH has gotten so heavy lately and it’s nice to take a break and play with a different world). Also, I don’t really explicitly mention it, but the fourth shinobi war occurs when the characters are a few years aged up here, just because I said so.
> 
> I love the idea of Catelyn being an Uzumaki (that red hair, tho), and of her absolutely raising hell with Hiruzen when she finds out that Naruto has been left to fend for himself and immediately taking it on herself to take the poor kid in and give him a family. And Naruto would LOVE the Starks- he’d be such a fun brother to all the Stark kids- giving Rickon and Arya piggy-back rides around the village and climbing with Bran and letting Sansa help him with his homework and absolutely thinking that Robb was the coolest person in the world (if the Uchiha massacre hadn’t happened, he’d probably get into fights with Sasuke on the playground about whether Itachi or Robb was the more awesome big brother). Catelyn would absolutely adore him, because Kushina was like her little sister back in Uzushio, and Naruto is like a little carbon copy of Kushina’s personality. (Of course once Catelyn learns that Iruka’s been keeping an eye on him, Iruka has a standing invitation to dinner at the Stark-Uzumaki house and he and Cat get together to gossip over tea every other week). He’d look up to Ned, who would probably see how wild Naruto is and be reminded of his own brothers, and Naruto would love Ned’s summons- the wolf pack that the Starks have as summons are deadly in battle, but will dogpile and roughhouse like crazy with the Stark kids, and Naruto quickly gets folded into that and loves mudwrestling with the wolves. 
> 
> I Just- I love the idea of Naruto- that stupid, sweet ball of sunshine- getting this big loving family out of the blue and it making everything in the series just a little bit better. And of course he’s protective of the Starks- and Sansa in particular after the war, because Sakura’s been telling him in confidence that she’s having a really hard time with everything and working too much, and she’s practically his little sister even though they’re cousins, and he’s worried about her. And there's some Jonsa! Not a lot, but I enjoyed writing their interaction in this chapter :)
> 
> Thanks for reading along on this weird little side-project of mine and appropriately suspending your disbelief to enjoy this story- I’m @mkstrigidae on tumblr if you want to come say hi! Thanks for all the lovely comments, bookmarks, and kudos’!


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